Every year, the New York City Subway “MTA” runs its annual holiday train named “The Holiday Nostalgia Rides” featuring their 1930s R1/9 train cars. The Holiday train runs all day every Sunday in December. Several local reenactors dress up in their finest vintage attire and ride/pose along with the general public on the train. I went twice in December and on a scouting trip in November.
On December 15th, Aleah and I dressed in 1940s clothes and posed for several photographers outside and inside the subway cars. I had planned on shooting a lot, but I wound up only taking a few photos because we got distracted posing for the other photographers. It was the first time I was more of a reenactor than a photographer. In addition to the subway ride, a couple of us ventured to Grand Central Station for a few more photo opportunities. I have included several of Vlad Kfrg’s photos in the blog post.
On December 29th, I went on my second trip, wearing regular clothes and full camera gear. This time, I was able to take many more pictures of the reenactors.
In November, Aleah and I went for a scouting trip to the New York Transit Museum the day before Thanksgiving since we were already in the city for the parade. Aleah dressed and posted for a few test shots around the vintage subway cars. We hope to run a future reenactment photo shoot at the museum.
